Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock
In Vegan with a Vengeance, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, host of the community access vegan cooking show The Post Punk Kitchen, brings the do-it-yourself, community-driven ethos of punk rock into the kitchen. Her cooking philosophy embraces being kind to animals (all recipes are completely animal-product free) and your wallet—while being creative and having fun in the process. She emphasizes staying clear of corporate brand-name foods, and says that cooking should be an innovative, experimental, and
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Vegan on the Cheap
You don’t have to blow your budget to eat great meatless and dairy-free meals every day.With Vegan on the Cheap, you can enjoy delicious vegan meals every day of the week. Veteran food writer and vegan authority Robin Robertson provides 150 mouth-watering, exciting recipes that cost just 50 cents to per serving-hefty savings to go with hearty vegan meals.This book presents great options for savory soups and stews, satisfying salads, hearty noodle dishes, first-class casseroles, favorites for
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If You Could Have Only One Vegan Cookbook – Get THIS!,
I am a relatively new vegan, and I dove in head first and purchased a TON of vegetarian/vegan cookbooks so that I would not get bored and frustrated with my new lifestyle. Of all of the cookbooks I own, I have been disappointed with many, impressed by some and awed by only one – Vegan with a Vengeance. The recipes are creative, flavorful, and are enjoyed by my meat-eating friends/family as much as by me! Plus, the book covers a lot of ground – from breakfasts/brunches to desserts, soups, sammiches, etc. I love the additional commentary and advice in the book, regardless of the fact that the other and I don’t have the same views on many issues! I keep going back to this cookbook frequently and my many others are starting to collect dust. An absolute must have for any vegetarian or vegan library, and highly recommended for anyone else who wants to eat a little healthier and more varied as well.
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Awesome!,
I love this cookbook! I am not a cook (I do most of my cooking using the microwave) and I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I still love this book! The directions are really simple and straightforward, and there’s a section on stocking the vegan pantry, which is something that has always escaped me. Now that I have onions, garlic and potatoes handy, I can actually make some of these recipes without going shopping. I think that is the greatest beauty of this book–the ingredients are usually relatively cheap (although spices cost a bit at first if you don’t already have them) and most of them aren’t very exotic. I live in a rural-ish area and our mega-grocery has most of the ingredients that appear in the book (the other ingredients are within a 30-minute drive, so we’re good to go). Moskowitz keeps cheap and simple in mind, so even if the recipe calls for fancy kitchen equipment, she’ll often give a punk rock alternative so you can make the recipe without having to spend a lot of money at a yuppie kitchen store.
The only things about this book that I’m not crazy about are: 1) There are a couple of typos or inconsistencies that leave you wondering which you’re supposed to follow, although I’m sure you can figure it out if I can. 2) For microwave professionals like myself, it can be hard to decide what a “medium onion” or “large russet potato” looks like. Now that vegetables are genetically altered, the classic medium potato looks kind of shrimpy. I like having ingredients listed in standardized measurements. 3) Possibly due to problems related to item 2, I made the falafel (the uncooked falafel tasted rockin!), but it didn’t stick together in the cooking oil. So I had this dough that took a couple hours for me to make, and I put it in the oil and it disintegrated. I couldn’t eat it! I think I used a genetically altered onion that was bigger than it was supposed to be, so the falafel was too wet. I don’t know! But it was tragic. (In related news, the tahini was a-mazing. I think I made it three times in one week, it was so good.)
I’m still giving this book 5 stars because I think a lot of the problems are my own, and it’s so good otherwise that it makes up for it. The chocolate pudding is *(#@$(* great! The only thing is that you have to wait for it to chill (can’t eat it warm), or it doesn’t taste so good.
I’ve never had a cookbook that I really, actually used before, but this one is already beat up and discolored! There are ingredients all over it! I’m so proud of myself!!! Great book!
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I’ve got more vengeance than you can shake a stick at,
When I first checked this book out from the library I did something that I’ve never done with a cookbook before–I sat down and just read it. The author is so entertaining, witty, and engaging that I just liked reading the recipe descriptions, punk points, tips from Fizzle the cat, and litte vignettes that are woven into the book.
Then I started cooking. Oh, the scones! Amazing! The TLTs (tempeh, lettuce, tomato)! Wonderful! So many recipes, so little time.
So of course I returned the book to the library and bought my very own copy to drool over and treasure and love and sleep with under my pillow. OK, so I exaggerate, but not much.
The only downside is that many of the entrees call for tempeh, seitan, or tofu, and I don’t use those products very often. But when I do, I know that Isa will give me a good recipe. But there are enough other recipes that I think it’s balanced overall. And Isa convinced me to try roasted brussels sprouts on pizza. Crazy, I know, but it was SO GOOD.
Yesterday I also got Isa’s newest book, Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. It’s also wonderfully entertaining and I can’t wait to start baking. I’m thinking of buying Vegan with a Vengeance and Vegan Cupcakes for all of my friends this Christmas–and none of them are vegan. No matter! Our vegan vengeance and cupcakey goodness will take over the world!
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Great cookbook, with one caveat,
The recipes in this book really are inexpensive to make. The book starts with about 28 pages of advice on ways to save money on food, and the rest of the book is devoted to recipes. I have tried the following so far, and thought they were great:
Cheezee sauce (excellent!)
Comfort loaf (Best vegan ‘meatloaf’ I’ve ever had)
Baked ziti (Delicious; I was amazed at how well the tofu worked in this dish)
Mexican rice and bean bake (Today’s dinner – also outstanding)
The one caveat I have about the book is that some of the directions appear to be incomplete. This is okay for experienced cooks that can just figure out how to make it work. But someone with less experience and know-how could possibly end up wasting money by trying recipes that won’t work.
For example, the Cheezee sauce recipe tells you to combine some ingredients in a saucepan. Then it says, “Turn the heat on medium and whisk in the soy milk. Cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, about 1 minute.” This makes it sound like you are supposed to just turn on the heat and have the pot on the stove for 1 minute. What you have to do is bring the mixture to boiling and then cook it for about 1 minute longer. So, the author forgot to mention the part about bringing the mixture to boiling. If you’ve never made a sauce this way before, you might throw it out if you follow the directions, because it’s not useful in that watery state.
In the Mexican rice and bean bake, the recipe involves partially cooking some rice on the stovetop, and then putting it in the oven to cook the rest of the way. I think that there is something missing from the directions there as well, because I cooked and baked as directed, and had to double my baking time to cook the rice completely. (And, no, there is nothing wrong with my oven.) I presume that it was supposed to be cooked a little longer on the stovetop first, but again, the directions just indicated that you were to return the stovetop mixture to boiling, and then dump it in the pan to go into the oven. I suspect you were supposed to boil it for a little while on the stovetop first.
The food tastes great. She really does a lot with inexpensive ingredients. (One of the things I liked about this cookbook was that she only asks you to have a few non-standard ingredients on hand, unlike most vegan cookbooks, which expect that you are secretly running an international grocery store in your kitchen.) But considering I tried 4 recipes so far, and 2 of them had inaccurate directions, I’m a little concerned about the rest of the book. I’ll just have to remember to be more vigilant when making these recipes.
I think this is particularly important for this book, because I am sure that this book was geared, in part, to the ‘starving students’ and other new vegans who want to eat vegan on a budget. In general, younger people have less cooking experience and therefore will be less likely to know how to ‘fix’ these recipes. Also, I have a few of Robertson’s other cookbooks, and haven’t ever come across this problem so far. So, I’m disappointed for that reason, too.
But, man, that Mexican rice and bean bake is REALLY good.
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Excellent, easy, healthy recipes that I can make for myself or dinner guests,
I love this book. I’m not great in the kitchen but this book helps me hide that fact from guests I have over for dinner. Not only are the recipes interesting and delicious (ex: Easy Peanut Sauce, how could I have presented Thai curry without this before?), but the book also has unique elements that I’ve never seen before. For example, each recipe comes with an estimated cost per serving. Wow.
There is a “Cheap Trick” section that explains how to have vegan versions of staples like Parmesan and bread crumbs, which can be pricey if you buy them prepackaged. The vegan Parmesan “cheese” recipe uses nuts and nutritional yeast that makes a rich topping that helps me turn my old vegan standards into restaurant-style dishes. The book also has a helpful section on where to find high quality ingredients at low cost. It also gives a suggested shopping list! this is really exciting to me as I’m hopeless with figuring out what I need to buy and end up just buying whatever catches my eye at the store. I also like the suggested menu for a week.
I highly recommend this excellent cookbook for people who are vegan or for omnivores who just want to eat more healthy, vegan food. It has a nice cover and the inside style is clean and sleek, so I’d also recommend giving it as a gift either to someone who is vegan or just trying have a healthier diet without sacrificing taste, time or money.
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Eat great for less!,
I was a tester for this book and can’t rave about it enough. As a rule, I’m not as budget conscious as I should be when cooking. But this books make it so easy and doesn’t scrimp on the flavor. The recipes are very diverse and include dishes from several nationalities. Besides the American style dishes, some of the Asian and Mexican recipes were our favorites. The Tortilla Strata is one of the best I’ve ever had and doesn’t take many ingredients. The Korean Cabbage Salad, Asian Noodle Soup, Quick Lo Mein,andCajun Spiced Seitan Po’Boys are just a few of our favorites. The recipe for Corned Seitan with Cabbage makes the best reubens!
Besides the wonderful recipes, the cookbook includes strategies for saving money and making your time in the kitchen more efficient. There’s even a slow cooker chapter for make-ahead meals. Another cool thing about the book are the “Splurge a little” notes that offer suggestions to dress up a dish if you’re so inclined.
With 150 recipes that cost 50 cents to $2 a serving, this book is money well spent.
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